We boarded late Monday, departure wasn't until late
Tuesday. This gave us chance to take in the birds of the
Seaforth Docks, which included some nice sightings. A
Peregrine flew low over the boat, and up to four Raven were in the
vicinity. A family party of five Mute Swan shared our dock
for a while, and various groups of Canada Geese came through.
In the corner of the nature reserve to the north several species of
wader and a few Grey Heron and Shelduck were present, and before
dusk a sizeable gull roost had assembled.

Day 2

Overnight the boat had dropped anchor for several hours due to
strong winds. We deliberated as to whether to go to the
bridge at first light given conditions were clearly still very
challenging. We went ahead, and though winds remained at
Force 8 or thereabouts all day we did record for eight and a half
hours. Although numbers were relatively modest all the
expected seabird species were seen as we headed south off the Welsh
coast, i.e. Gannet, Fulmar, Kittiwake, Guillemot and Razorbill.

Kittiwake (Graham Ekins)

Day 3

We were on approach to Bristol at first light. An hour or
so on watch produced a few gulls of three species, and a couple of
species of duck. For the remainder of the day we were berthed
in dock for unloading and loading.

Day 4

When we joined the bridge at first light we were leaving Bristol
behind, and Lundy was on the horizon in front of us. We
didn't see any cetaceans before passing Lundy, but afterwards we
saw several pods of Common Dolphin some of which were leaping clean
out of the water. Seabirds were largely the expected species
of Gannet, Fulmar, Kittiwake and the larger auks.

Fulmar (Mike Bailey)

Day 5

We were in Biscay when survey effort began. We were
stopped for a couple of hours near the shelf, and at this point up
to 17 Kittiwake sheltered in our lea. The seabird highlights
however were two Little Gull, an adult and a first year seen
separately as we headed south. There were no cetaceans seen
until late in the afternoon and nearing dusk, when one Striped
Dolphin passed us.

Striped Dolphin (Mike Bailey)

Day 6

We were docked in Bilbao and the survey team took the
opportunity to walk up the hill adjacent to the port, a route made
popular by passengers in the days of the Pride of Bilbao. We
weren't sure what to expect in January, but on a nice day we saw
some good birds including Griffon Vulture, Sardinian Warbler,
Crested Tit and a Tawny Owl which was being mobbed by a couple of
Firecrest. As we came back to the port a few Black Redstart
and a couple of vocal Serin added to the variety in what was a most
enjoyable rest day.

Tawny Owl (Stephen Dunstan)

Day 7

When we started surveying we had already passed over the
southern shelf and were in deep water. The morning was quiet,
but things started to gather pace at lunchtime with a pod of c20
Common Dolphin followed by the seabird highlight of the
survey. A Leach's Petrel was looking for food right in front
of the boat, a decent record anywhere in Europe in January.

Common Dolphin (Adrian Shephard)

We hoped that there would be a flurry of observations as we
passed the northern canyon shelf, and we were not to be
disappointed. On the cetacean front two groups of Bottlenose
Dolphin were followed by nine Long-finned Pilot Whale, which were
seen very well as we passed alongside them at close range.

Pilot Whale (Stephen Dunstan)

Common Dolphin meanwhile continued to be seen in decent numbers
until we stopped surveying when the light began to go. Other
than the petrel the bird features included a Mediterranean Gull and
several Great Skua.

Day 8

Surveying at dawn found us in the Celtic Sea. A pod of
presumed Common Dolphin in the half-light was followed by several
pods throughout the day confirmed to be of this species. As
we were roughly level with Bardsey Island the first Harbour
Porpoise of the trip was recorded to complete a decent selection of
cetaceans for a January survey.

Harbour Porpoise (Graham Ekins)

The bird highlight of the day was a
'Blue' Fulmar of the northern dark morph, seen well by both
surveyors as it went across the bow of the boat. A couple of
Kittiwake and a Herring Gull hitched a ride as we were in waters
south west of Pembrokeshire. One of the Kittiwake, other than
for a brief time when it flew round assessing options, was still
sitting tight after we had traversed the length of Wales and dusk
set in.

We would like to thank Captain Ylja Lamberts and his friendly
and accommodating staff. We are particularly grateful as the
Enforcer is not normally used on the Liverpool-Bilbao route and
they have not had a MARINElife team on board before but were
interested in our work and very good company throughout.